Disclaimer:
Harry Potter and all of its characters belong to J.K. Rowling.
I own nothing but the original characters I make.
"Dialogue"
'Thoughts'
-Author notes-
Chapter 96: Britain at War
A couple of weeks went by after that.
Harry was currently relaxing in the living room of his small house next to Morgan's shop.
The newspaper in his hands was discussing the several attacks on magical communities that had occurred in the past few weeks.
The return of Voldemort could no longer be hidden away or ignored after what happened on the day of the second task. Hundreds of people had seen the Dark Mark floating in the sky and witnessed the Death Eaters themselves before they were stopped by Harry.
However, Harry was not there to stop all the subsequent assaults on those members of the magical population that Lord Voldemort and his followers deemed as not worthy of the gift of magic and thus…not worthy of living among them.
They call them either mudbloods or blood traitors and kill them without mercy.
Harry's opinion on this was quite clear. Wizards and witches already had too much to fear from the Muggles to be fighting among themselves.
This Voldemort fellow appeared to be completely oblivious to the threat that organizations like the Argent Flame posed to their very own existence, and instead was completely focused on some personal vendetta he had against the Ministry of Magic and Hogwarts, while also using the insecurities of wizards belonging to ancient families to fill his ranks.
"Preposterous…" Harry went back to the front page of the paper. Just yesterday, there had been an attack on Hogsmeade, the quaint little magical village he had recently visited.
There were pictures of all the chaos and destruction that these Death Eaters had caused.
He was going to make sure that these men and women paid for what they had done to his country.
Camelot may be gone by now, but the isle of Britain was still here, and he would always defend it from those who wished to bring harm to its people.
All of a sudden, an owl flew through the opening of his only high window leading to the street and completely ruined his train of thought.
Feeling a bit annoyed, Harry sat up and placed the newspaper on the coffee table, only to have the owl land on the newspaper and tear its pages apart with its sharp claws.
"Are you purposely trying to bother me?" Harry wondered. "This better be great news, because you are not getting a treat otherwise."
The owl let out some sound of complaint before extending its leg so Harry could pull the message attached to it.
He unfolded the small scroll and read its contents very carefully. "Oh?" His eyes returned to the large bird. "It looks like you are getting a treat after all."
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
Harry and Morgan stood before the Blackthorn mansion.
"I still don't believe it was a good idea for you to come here," Harry said. "If the current Lady of the House has any idea of who you truly are, we can say goodbye to her cooperation."
"Luckily for us, she has already finished the job," Morgan responded. "We just need to retrieve the work, and we are done."
"And what if we need another book decoded in the future? Have you thought about that?" Harry asked. "Tell me…why are you really here?" He gave her a look of suspicion.
She had been very insistent on accompanying him after receiving the letter that informed him about the completion of the job.
"I just want to see with my own eyes how far this house has fallen," Morgan huffed.
Harry stared at her for a long moment and didn't believe a single word she said. There was another reason for this, but Morgan didn't want to say it.
That was cause for concern. She rarely kept secrets from him.
Soon enough, the butler arrived at the gates and opened them up for them.
"Greetings, Mister Potter, and welcome back to the Blackthorn Household. And…" His eyes moved to Morgan.
"I am his wife. You may just call me Madam Potter," Morgan said with an unnaturally sweet smile on her face.
"I see…" responded the butler with a calm tone. "I was not aware that Mr. Potter was already married at such a young age. Very well, you may come in."
Harry glared at Morgan. "Shall we, my dear wife?" He didn't try to hide his feelings right now. He was both confused and somewhat vexed by whatever game she was playing.
Morgan muffled a chuckle and grabbed onto his arm. "Let's go then."
The butler guided them to the same studio that Harry had entered on his previous visit and told them to wait while he went to call on Lady Blackthorn.
"The house is very nice." Morgan wasted no time before starting to inspect the office. "And this book collection has some very rare tomes…the family must be doing quite well. Financially, I mean."
"They have been around for many centuries. That should not be a surprise," Harry pointed out.
It would be strange for an old wizard family not to be at least financially stable.
"What are you looking for?" Harry asked.
Morgan stopped her inspection and turned to him. "Nothing in particular. I was just curious. But…I do find something odd."
"What is it?"
"I don't see a single family picture in this office, or in the other parts of the house that we passed on our way here."
"Is that odd? I saw a few paintings," Harry said.
"Mmm…you may not have noticed because you are an old man who spent all his time locked in his own laboratory. But in this day and age, most families have pictures of their loved ones on dis-"
The door of the office opened up, interrupting what Morgan was about to say.
A middle-aged blonde woman with a pair of vibrant purple eyes walked inside.
"Sorry for making you wait, Mister Potter," she said. Her eyes only lingered on Harry for a short moment before going directly to Morgan. "And you must be…"
A.N: - Remember to comment, vote, and/or leave a review if you have the time. Those things help me a lot and I would really appreciate it.
You can support me on P@treon if you like and get 20 advanced chapters. You can also find character images to view for free in Collections/Merlin Images
-patreon.com/Kriogenix
For donations and commissions, go to ko-fi.com/kriogenix